Spartans Fall to St. Mary's in Dragoni's Debut

Feb 20, 2008

ST. MARY’S CITY, MD - The York College women's lacrosse
squad opened their 2008 campaign with a 16-8 setback at St. Mary's
College on a frigid Wednesday afternoon in St. Mary's City, MD. The
game marked the debut of Spartan head coach Jen Dragoni. The
Spartans start the season 0-1 (0-1 CAC) while the Seahawks begin
1-0 (1-0 CAC).

The green and white jumped out first behind an Alison
Napolitano (Annapolis, Md./Annapolis Area Christian) score
just 2:19 into the contest. A successful free position shot
from St. Mary’s evened the tally at the 25:57 mark, but York
took the lead once again merely 37 seconds later as Jaclyn
VanLuit (New Freedom, Pa./Susquehannock) recorded her
first goal of her senior campaign.

The quick start for the visitors seemed to stun their hosts as
the Seahawks may have been surprised that the Spartans had truly
come to play. After VanLuit’s goal, St. Mary’s woke up
and proceeded to go on a 7-0 run over a nearly 16 minute period to
take a commanding 8-2 lead. Megan Bell’s
(Westminster, Md./Francis Scott Key) first tally of the
season stemmed the tide for the moment as she brought the Spartans
to within five at 8-3 with 8:21 remaining in the frame.

Kaitlin Davis (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary's) would
add a fourth goal to the York total but was sandwiched between a
pair of St. Mary’s tallies. The squads would head into the
half with St. Mary’s owning a six-goal lead at 10-4.

Over the first 30 minutes, the Spartans recorded 13 shots with
ten on goal, while St. Mary’s registered 19 attempts with 16
on target. York did do well taking care of the ball turning
it over only six times in the period, while the Seahawks gave the
ball to the visitors eight times.

The Spartans would fair better in the second half, but St.
Mary’s would simply prove to be too much on this day. Aileen
McCausland tallied her fourth score of the day 2:50 after the break
to increase the Seahawk lead to 11-4. Bell would cut the
advantage back to six at 11-5 with her second tally of the game,
but a pair of Lauren Carrier scores just ten seconds apart
increased the home squad’s advantage to eight at 13-5 with
18:45 to play.

Another Napolitano goal with 18:21 left brought the
visitor’s back to within seven at 13-6. The Seahawks would
then effectively shut the door with back-to-back tallies at 15:52
and 15:09. Kelsey Branch and Hannah Cooley each recorded
their first scores of the season and gave the Seahawks the 15-6
advantage.

Molly Kerrigan (Bel Air, Md./Institute of Notre
Dame) would score for the York side at 11:27 and
Napolitano would complete her hat trick at 4:08 before the
Seahawks’ Branch would record the game’s final score
with 58 seconds remaining.

For the game, St. Mary’s held the lead in shots 33-23 and
put nine more on frame than the Spartans at 27-18. The
Seahawks also collected 15 ground balls to York’s eight.

Senior captain Napolitano led York with three goals while Bell
added a pair of scores. VanLuit, Davis, and Kerrigan each added a
tally to the scoreboard as Kerrigan and Danielle Seling
(Whiteford, Md./North Harford) each contributed an assist.

McCausland led all scorers with four notches for the St.
Mary’s side. Carrier added a hat trick and three other
players tallied twice. A trio of Seahawks added a goal each for the
home squad while Elizabeth Northfield recorded an assist.

The Spartans travel again this Friday as they make the 45-minute
trip to Elizabethtown to take on the Blue Jays in a 4:00 pm
contest.